www.iepn.org Climate Change and its Implications on the Euro-East Mediterranean Region Herzliya, September 23rd-24th, 2019 December 2019 Edited by: Dr. Jan Busse, Dr. Ruth Hanau Santini, Dr. Roby Nathanson, Dr. Paul Pasch, and Mr. Yanai Weiss The annual Israeli meeting of the Israeli­European Policy Network(IEPN) in Herzliya focused on the implications of climate change on the Euro-East Mediterranean Region, the needed steps in order to better address the phenomena in the region, and the opportunities for improving the EU-Israel relations. Background Climate and regional environmental changes have become one of the biggest challenges of humanity in the 21st century, as they affect the environment, the economy and communities worldwide. The political and economic debate on the issue receives growing attention. Climate change poses great challenges on the two shores of the Mediterranean and the southern side in particular. There are nevertheless opportunities for economic and political cooperation. In light of this, the IEPN conference held in Israel in September 2019 focused on the main economic and geo-political opportunities and challenges that those changes have on the cooperation between Europe, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries. In addition, the discussion shed light on the need for Europe to enhance regional dialogue and cooperation in the Middle East. The discussion focused on different topics related to climate change – prolonged droughts, shortage in water supply, extreme heat waves, natural resources, and air pollution. The workshop also focused on the security and political challenges that climate change can contribute to, such migration and food insecurity. One of the most significant initiative adopted at the global level to reduce pollutant emissions and promote a greener economy was the Paris Agreement, signed in December 2015. The agreement was signed during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC). The main and ambitious goal of the agreement is to keep the increase of the global average temperature to 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial revolution period. It was signed by all 196 state parties to the conference, but it required ratification and some countries have since then threatened to withdraw from it, such as the US. The signing of the Paris agreement was a very optimistic moment within the global efforts to deal with climate and environmental changes. It demonstrated the global commitment to a greener and healthier economy. However, in the two and a half years that followed the signing of the agreement, many countries have been struggling to overhaul their fossil-reliant economic consumption model and have made little progress in promoting a greener economy and meet regional and local goals. In addition, the objectives that have been decided are on a global average level. It is expected that the Middle East will experience changes at a level that is higher than the global average and therefore would suffer much more from climate change. Nonetheless, one thing remains clear – only by global coordination and long­term response across all economic and social sectors progress could be achieved. Unfortunately, just like with the Iran agreement, the American President Donald Trump announced in 2017 his plan to withdraw from the agreement on the first possible opportunity provided by the agreement – November 2020, two months before the end of his current presidential term. The goal that President Obama announced following the signing of the agreement was to reduce emissions by 2025 to its level in 2005. However, Trump’s policies are already with contrast to that goal as he encourages more drilling of gas and oil, while he sets tariffs on imports of renewable energy products such as solar panels. Other countries, while remaining tied to the agreement, are struggling to meet their countries’ goal. For example, Germany’s emissions increased in 2015 and 2016 due to coal burning and emission growth in the transportation sector. Germany is not alone; other countries in the EU are facing similar 111